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[HanCinema's Exclusive Concert Review] SHINee's Fanmeet in Chicago - A Breakdown

Sunday May 8, 2016 was a momentous day for SHINee fans. It was the day that SubKulture Entertainment brought them to the Rosemont Theater for their very first North American fanmeet! Although the boys had been to Toronto on Friday and Los Angeles on Saturday, they were still brimming with energy and excitement to meet their fans.

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They weren't the only ones. Fans from all over the U.S., North America, and indeed the world, came to see the popular SM Entertainment K-pop group. These fans came in all ages, from the parent-escorted youngsters to the lucky 72-year-old woman who shared a stage with them. Before the fanmeet, fans gathered to eat together and share fan stories, then greeted SHINee at the airport. A queue started up before HanCinema arrived at 4:30 and in it people were passing out glow sticks and balloons in SHINee's official color, pearlescent blue. K-pop was blasting as SHINee fans busted cool moves in the parking lot of the Rosemont Theatre.

HanCinema chatted with the fans as they waited and some people had driven all the way from New Mexico in order to be there for SHINee on their big day. A flurry of languages sounded as excited fans chatted: English, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and more. Around 5:30 fans queued up for their official SHINee Fanmeet light sticks, and at 7:00 they were let into the Rosemont Theatre where SHINee tunes blasted to get them in the mood.

And were they ever in the mood! Fans sang along with lyrics in Korean, knew their fan chants, and waved their lightsticks and SHINee goods in unison even before the boys tore on stage with their first high energy number, "Everybody", the single off of their 2014 EP. The audience surged to their feet in a single motion and sang along, word-for-word. Afterwards, slick-tongued MC Martin E. Kim came out to introduce himself and could barely speak for the excited cheering of the crowd. After MC Kim's intro, a now casually dressed SHINee took up their microphones for early favorite "Hello". Sadly, there were some technical difficulties, but the boys handled it professionally.

After, MC Kim sat down with SHINee for a Q&A, which was very well received. Onew spoke about his role as Lee Chi-hoon on the insanely popular "Descendants of the Sun" stating that he was curious how fans would perceive him as an actor (rather than a member of SHINee). He thanked fans for their love and hoped to greet them soon in a new project. After his success in "Descendants of the Sun", I can't imagine that he won't land another role. Choi Minho was then asked about the American actor he would like to work with, which he cited as an awesome question. The answer: Brad Bitt. MC Kim's next question to the audience: Who is sexier? American sex icon Brad Pitt, or Choi Minho? The crowd unanimously voted for a very embarrassed Choi Minho.

Other fan-geared questions were asked and the crowd learned that SHINee lived in a very cramped one room at their beginning (and fought a bit because of the close proximity), Jonghyun received an English name of "Sexee", and Key very slickly promoted his beautiful skin and the cosmetics brand they are contracted with.

Then it was game time. Twenty lucky fans had been previously chosen to play a game of charades with the boys. Among them was the aforementioned 72-year-old fan who had the most energy of all the fans. The game was fun and including cheating (Taemin pantomiming the wrong things to throw off his opposition), Jonghyun pointing his face to help his team guess the movie "Jurassic Park" (he is known to have a "dinosaur face"), winner's walking away with exclusive gift bags, and Onew and Choi Minho having to pay the aegyo penalty for losing.

Fans prepared a thank you video that you can see in its entirety here, which surprised and touched SHINee. They were grateful that they have been and currently are able to touch people across the world. Next backstage and concert footage from played before the boys sang "Replay", their debut song and a favorite among all noona fans. "Lucifer" and "Sherlock" followed. Both songs are known for their intricate dancing that the boys most definitely performed to perfection.


The boys changed again as behind-the-scenes were played for the recent single "View" and Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Choi Minho, and Taemin jumped back onstage to perform "View" before saying their final farewells, taking a massive group selfie with the audience, and proclaiming their love for the fans. You can see the selfie on Key's instagram here.

Overall, SHINee's first fanmeet was a huge success. Thank you to SubKulture Entertainment for such a great event. Thank you SHINee for coming round to our neck of the woods. Thank you fans for making it such a memorable experience.

This is HanCinema's correspondent Raine, aka Lisa Espinosa. Over and out!

On your way out, check out some footage from the fanmeet:

 

Written by: Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

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